Talosian Chronicles 1: Olympus (11 page)

“Little Kitten, you have nothing to apologize for,” Ian said and gently caressed her head.

Talena felt her heart thump when he spoke to her like that. The look in his eyes was all love and admiration; love and admiration for her. She’d only seen that in the eyes of her mother and Starlen. Even Commander Zeus had only pity in his eyes. This man was not Commander Zeus.

She swallowed hard. “Sir, may I please have something to eat and drink? I’m really hungry.”

He moved his hand and brushed the hair out of her face. “You sure can, sweetheart. But you don’t need to call me ‘Sir’ when I’m off duty. Please call me Ian. We really would like you to join our family.”

Beth handed Ian a plate of poached eggs and toast, which he passed on to the girl. Beth smiled at her. “Try to eat slowly, your stomach needs to get used to real food again.” She handed over a glass of weak orange juice.

Talena looked down at the food and had no idea how to eat it. She didn’t want to make a fool out of herself in front of the Commander either. She smiled when the nice Doctor handed him a plate just like hers.

“We don’t expect you to know how to eat the food here, but that’s okay, because this stuff isn’t really all that good to eat,” Ian said, chuckling.

Talena was relieved that he wasn’t making fun of her. He was so... but he wasn’t female, and that confused her more than a little.

“Now, there are a couple different ways to eat this, I like to mash it all up like this,” He took the tool that came with the plate and began smashing the white things into little pieces. “Then I take the toast, and eat it like this.” He took one of the brown squares in his other hand and used it to scoop the smashed up stuff into the tool then lifted it to his mouth, and ate it, followed by a bite out of the... toast, he’d called it.

“Damn Beth, can’t she have any salt? This stuff tastes horrible,” he said as he made a face.

Talena laughed at the face he made.

“Sure, you’re laughing now, just wait ‘till you take a bite!” He shuddered.

She quickly copied his movements with the tool he called a fork, then she grabbed the toast and used it to push some of the mush onto the fork, then lifted it to her mouth and... ‘He really wasn’t kidding, this stuff does taste horrible’ she thought to herself.

“Take a bite of the toast, honey, it’ll help kill the taste,” Ian suggested.

After she swallowed, he offered her the glass of orange liquid.

The juice did seem to help get the taste out of her mouth, “That food is really bad,” she said.

The pretty girl laughed and nodded her agreement. “Doctors are the same no matter were you come from, Talena. They work like crazy to heal you, then try to make you sick by feeding you that horrible food!”

“Come on, Beth, that bland crap is going to make her blow chunks regardless of how well her stomach works!” Ian pleaded.

Beth frowned, but asked the domestic drone for something called cinnamon apple oatmeal.

“With a little bit of sugar?” Ian asked. “Please?”

“If she gets sick on it, you get to clean it up!” Beth said sternly.

Ian grinned and took the bowl she offered. “I think you might like this better. Remember, try to eat it slowly.”

She took the spoon and took a small bite. “This is much better! Thank you!” She said before taking another bite. Ian winked at her before standing. “Cindy, when she’s finished, would you show her how our showers work, and help her with our clothes?” he turned back to Talena, “I’m sure you know how to do all those things aboard ship, but we are rather primitive down here, and no one can know you’re from another planet. I’ll leave you to your breakfast.” He caressed her cheek before he turned and left.

––––––––

“C
ommander, the level one diagnostics on the hull and superstructure are complete, and I am ready to report,” Oly said.

Ian, Jenny, and Beth were sitting at the dining room table talking about Talena when Olympus called. “Okay Oly, come on out and give us the good news.”

“I am afraid there is very little of this that is good, sir,” Oly said as he appeared beside the table.

He motioned to the center of the table where a miniature of the ship formed. “All six primary keel supports are badly degraded on the molecular level. Even if the ship were in space, any thrust applied to the superstructure would cause these main support beams to buckle and destroy the ship. They must be replaced before any attempt to move the ship is made.

“The hull plates on the rear of the ship, from roughly section one-ninety-two, back, are also badly degraded. In fact on the rear quarter of the ship, the hull plates would shatter if you hit them with a hammer. Again, they must be replaced before any attempt to move the ship is made,” Oly said.

Ian had his head in his hands, this was much worse than he’d thought.

“What about the internal super-frame and reactor support stanchions?”

“All of it has to be replaced, Sir. In fact, I would strongly recommend shutting down the reactor immediately in the event the stanchions fail. The internal frame as well as all bulkheads from section two-twenty-one through main engineering must be rebuilt and or replaced.

“At this point if a meteor were to strike anywhere remotely near the ship, the rear half would simply crumble into dust,” Oly finished. “May I ask how you knew it was not safe, sir?”

“Instinct I think. The night you taught me the physics involved in the propulsion system, I got a... I don’t know, a feeling I guess. A feeling that something wasn’t right,” Ian said thoughtfully. “Then there’s ‘Murphy’s Law’.”

Oly looked confused a moment, but Ian could see the information registering on the AI’s face. “If something can go wrong, it will.”

Ian nodded. “Usually at the worst possible moment. That phrase was intended as an ironic joke, Oly. However, I want it treated as a real law of nature. Nothing gets used and nobody goes aboard again until it’s safe.

“You’ll need to check the shuttle we’ve been using as well.” He turned to his first officer, “Okay, Jenny, do you agree that we should shut down the main reactor in order to affect repairs to the superstructure of the ship?”

“Yes I do,” Jenny said. “Immediately. The long term results of the main reactor detonating on the moon would have catastrophic results for the Earth, not to mention the loss of the ship. The reactor has enough power to potentially nudge the moon out of its current orbit.”

“I agree. Oly, effective immediately, I am ordering the shutdown of the main power reactor for the ship. Further, assign all the maintenance drones not currently involved in other critical repairs to the task of replacing and repairing the primary frame and keel sections, the super-frame, and the hull. Once that is complete, perform a complete level one diagnostic on the main reactor prior to restart,” Ian said.

“Sir, part of that test requires human assistance, as well as the restarting of the reactor,” Oly stated.

Ian nodded in agreement. “While you’re working on the superstructure and hull, we’ll be recruiting more people. I’ll get some engineers ready for you once it’s safe for them to be up there. Do you have an estimate of the time line for repairs?”

“In a dry dock facility, it would take a minimum of three weeks to replace the keel sections, and two more weeks to repair the bulkheads and secondary frame sections. Given the history of this reactor, it would be removed and a new unit installed, adding another two weeks. I feel I should mention that with this amount of damage, the ship itself would most likely be destroyed, and a new one built to replace it,”

“Well, we don’t have a dry dock facility, and I’m not about to order the destruction of the ship. How about this; use a portable power supply and erect an isolation field here at section one-eighty,” Ian used a pen to indicate the area, “Then have the drones destroy the reactor before beginning on the internal frames. Essential systems can run on their secondary power systems until the reactor is replaced. Did you get the rest of those drones built?”

“Yes sir, I have tentatively assigned one hundred to the keel replacement, one hundred to the hull sections, and the remaining hundred to internal structures. The outer hull cannot be finished until the keel is completed, but once the drones are to that point, I will pull them inside to help,” Oly said.

“I agree, proceed. Now, once we get the frame sections and reactor stanchions replaced, and the keel is finished, go ahead and rebuild the reactor. I would like for your drones to work from the front of the ship back, so as soon as it’s safe, we can start bringing people up to help with repairs,” Ian said.

“Have you given anymore thought to this corporation idea?” Beth asked.

Ian winked at her. “Oly, I think we’re going to need credit cards or some other vehicle to pay for incidentals, until we can get this corporation set up.” He paused in thought, then activated his communit. “Commander to Counselor Laskar.”

“Hi Ian,” Janet replied.

“Do you think you folks could come over for a bit? We got some plannin’ to do.”

“We’re about ten steps from your door,” Janet said laughing.

Ian grinned. “Just walk in then, I think it’s unlocked.”

The door opened to admit Janet, Bill and Julie. “Sorry Commander, we wanted to come over to see how Talena was doing,” Bill said grinning.

“Cindy has her in the shower I think. Actually, they’ve been in there for a while. Maybe I better go check on them,” Beth said as she stood. “Have a seat, everyone. Ian can get you something to drink.”

Ian smiled at his in-laws. “Isn’t it a little early in the day for both of you to be off work?”

“Actually, neither of us is employed any longer,” Bill said frowning. “Management got pissy when I told them I took that time off to attend my daughter’s wedding. They said I should have planned better and submitted a vacation request two months ago.” He shrugged. “They were assholes anyway.”

“So what happened to you, Julie?” Ian asked.

“I was going to be downsized anyway, so they decided now was just as good as the end of the month. I got a three month severance package, though,” Julie said grinning.

“Okay, well, if you guys need anything, and I mean anything, don’t hesitate to either ask, or just use the credit card you’ll be getting. As soon as we can get it set up, we’ll list both of you as officers or members of the board for the corporation.” Ian turned to Janet. “Now, you pretty lady, I need you to get to work post-haste. We’ll need a good corporate attorney as well as whoever else to legally set up a corporation. I’d prefer if they knew everything that’s really going on, but it’s not a requirement. Okay, why are you grinning?” Ian asked.

She touched her ear, “Computer, telephone please...” She rattled off a number and waited a few minutes.

“Carla? Hi! It’s Janet. Are you busy?” She paused while the other person was speaking.

“Really? That’s horrible, but perhaps really good too; I’ve stumbled across something out here that just screamed your name to me when I heard about it.” She paused again to listen.

“No, honey, nothing like that. It’s totally legit, and I’ve been told that if you’re everything I’ve said you were, it’ll pay twenty percent over your existing salary.” Janet listened with her grin growing.

“Yes they do, how soon can you make a trip out here?”

Pause,

“No, tonight’s fine, you’ll only need clothes for a couple days, they’ll furnish anything else you might need.”

Pause.

“Okay hon, you go pack, and I’ll get your flight information and call you back.”

Pause.

“I know you will, dear. They’re a really neat bunch of people. Give Paula a kiss for me and I’ll talk to you soon, bye.”

Janet smiled at Ian, “Carla Nelson is one of the best corporate attorneys in New York City. The problem she’s been having is that in order for her to advance, she has to 'pay her way'.

“She was let go from the firm she was working for yesterday for punching one of the senior partners in the face when he commanded her perform something obscene on him during a board meeting. She’s afraid the old bastard will have her disbarred.

“She’s free to come whenever we need her here.” Her grin deepened, “She’s an avid science fiction buff, and I thought it would be a great way to break the ice if we picked her up in the shuttle.”

Ian dug out the keys to the hummer and tossed them to her. “Do you think you can be back in time to see Jenny and I graduate tonight?”

She stood and looked at Bill, “Can I take Julie with me? You can save us three seats can’t you, love?”

Bill chuckled. “I’m not going to end up with another wife out of this, am I?”

“I don’t think so, dear, Carla isn’t into guys,” Janet said with as straight a face as she could get.

Bill looked at her face and busted out laughing. “Get out of here already!”

As the women turned to leave, Ian asked, “Do you remember how to get out to the farm?”

“Yeah, but if we get lost, Oly can guide us,” Julie said and they left.

Beth passed the women in the hallway, and sat down, grinning. “Those two look chipper!”

“They’re going to pick up our new corporate attorney; if she joins us,” Ian said. “How are Cindy and Talena doing?”

“Napping. It was so cute, I looked into Talena’s room and there was Cindy, with Talena spooned up against her, sound asleep,” Beth said.

“Those two sure have gotten attached quickly,” Jenny said.

“Not as fast as Talena and our dashing husband. I think the girl might be slightly empathic, because she looked into his eyes, and her heart melted. She’s confused about her feelings right now, but pretty soon she’s going to realize what those feelings are,” Beth said. “We’re going to have to figure out how to handle it when she does.”

“She’s going to be our wife one day, Beth,” Jenny said softly.

Beth looked a little shocked. “Really? We barely know her, and she's so tiny!”

“Were getting to know her now, and since when does size have anything to do with it?” Jenny asked.

Beth frowned. “I know, I just... How many wives is Ian going to have?”

“I honestly don’t know, Beth. I just got that the first time I saw her,” Jenny said.